The third meeting of the Tuscaloosa mayor’s Student Housing Task Force was information laden on Wednesday with the panel hearing two presentations on the current rental market statistics along with updates on the state of student housing complexes from two local property managers.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

The third meeting of the mayor’s Student Housing Task Force was information laden on Wednesday with the panel hearing two presentations on the current rental market statistics along with updates on the state of student housing complexes from two local property managers.Jim Andrews, publisher of the “Tuscaloosa Apartment Guide” and similar publications in several cities, began the day by saying current rental market guidelines indicate Tuscaloosa is at an approximately 94.5 percent occupancy rate.This data does not include on-campus dormitories or government housing, but rather traditional multi-family units as well as student-based housing complexes.Andrews said that last year, Tuscaloosa’s occupancy rate for the approximately 180 apartment communities was at about 97 percent and that next year this figure could drop into the low 90 percent range.“It’s not going up,” Andrews said.According to Andrews’ data, more than 8,700 beds are up for rent for the first time this fall and next year another 3,000 to 3,500 beds could be on the market.Of these, the majority are being marketed to students whose families are in the top 3 percent of income earners nationally, meaning the developers are targeting only the very rich.This is in addition to at least five new sites currently in consideration along with a “secret site” that is being pushed by brokers within a mile of Denny Chimes on the University of Alabama campus.This number of new and future beds are a growing concern, Andrews said, because an oversaturated market could lead to a lessened quality of life, a loss of neighborhood character, property instability and harmful effects on road, sewer and school infrastructure if left unchecked.“There are people whose livelihoods depend on the health of the market ...,” Andrews said. “Equilibrium is traditionally not sustainable over a long period of time.” Andrews was followed by Steven Rumsey, a player in the local rental housing market and the current chair of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission.Rumsey also said that he was concerned about the boom in large student housing complexes that has exploded in Tuscaloosa in recent years.And for that, as chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission, Rumsey said he shouldered some of the blame.Rumsey said the efforts of the Planning and Zoning Commission to approve student housing developments that conform with the city’s expectations of quality and aesthetics was to aid the University of Alabama’s student growth plan that has been in effect for almost a decade while providing jobs for local residents.The error of some of these efforts became apparent after developers began converting existing lots in the downtown area and near the UA campus, what the industry labels as in-fill development, at a greater rate than expected.“They were honest mistakes,” Rumsey said.He produced data indicating that, since 2002, the University of Alabama has grown enrollment from about 19,600 students to more than 34,000 — an increase of about 14,400 students.In that span, more than 16,000 bedrooms had been privately developed or constructed with another 2,700 under construction or in the planning stages.Add to this the estimated 3,700 to 4,100 new dorm beds that UA is expected to complete by 2014 and Rumsey questioned how these units can expect to be filled.“I’m worried that, if we don’t watch out, we could wake up one morning and find ourselves in a mess ...,” Rumsey said to the task force. “And now, I want you guys to worry.”The on-site managers of The Woodlands of Tuscaloosa and Crimson Student Living (formerly Sterling Crimson) student housing complexes also provided some information to the panel that showed how tough it is to compete in Tuscaloosa’s burgeoning student housing market.Jennifer Cauth, property manager of The Woodlands, said it has become tougher to reach 100 percent occupancy each of the three years that The Woodlands has been in operation.For example, the complex was filled by May in 2012. But this year, it took until July.“But we’re still not suffering like we could be,” she said.Amy Verner, the general manager of Crimson Student Living, told a similar tale of struggling to meet occupancy demands.This fall’s occupancy at Crimson Student Living is 84 percent, which is down from the 93 percent it reached last year.And this is after lowering rental rates and offering more incentives — flat-screen televisions, tablet computers — to lease-signers, a move that Cauth said The Woodlands also implemented.Verner, who has managed properties in college towns in Florida and Texas, said she watched the over-saturation of the Gainesville, Fla., market reach a point where new apartment complexes were converting to serve lower income families after seven to eight years because the demand was too great.She did not say that Tuscaloosa was facing a similar dilemma, but she did point out that a large number of student renters are constantly in search of the latest housing options within any given area.“They want the newest and they want the best,” Verner said, “and there’s really no end in sight.”